The 2023 State of North Carolina Holocaust Commemoration will be held in-person Sunday, April 16, 2023, 3:30-5 pm, at the NCSU McKimmon Center, 1101 Gorman St., Raleigh, NC 27606. Seating will be safely distanced.

The Keynote Speaker will be Holocaust survivor Dr. Zohara Boyd. Born in 1942, Dr. Boyd grew up in Poland under Nazi occupation. By obtaining the documents of a Polish Catholic family, her Jewish parents were able to escape the ghetto and hide in plain sight. After the war, her family emigrated to Canada in 1949 and arrived in the U.S. in 1951. Dr. Boyd is professor emeritus of English from Appalachian State University and has spoken about her Holocaust experience throughout the state.

The Candle Lighting Ceremony honors four groups: the millions of victims of the Holocaust; the soldiers who liberated the concentration camps, slave labor camps, and detention centers; the Righteous Among the Nations (non-Jews who risked theirs lives to save Jews and other persecuted groups; and the victims of genocide and hate crimes in the world.